leebutler Horror, Review, Thriller

The Long Walk (2025) – Run!

Released: 11th September
Seen: 14th September

In 1979, Stephen King released the book The Long Walk under the pseudonym Richard Bachman (a name he picked partially to avoid saturating the market with King books and partially to test if his success was based on skill). The book was well received like a lot of early King works were and has been named one of the best books for teenage readers by the American Library Association. Like a lot of King books, there have been talks about an adaptation of The Long Walk for years, way back in 1988 it was going to be made by George Romero, but that ultimately fell through. Next up was Frank Darabont, who took a shot in 2007 and then in 2019, one André Øvredal (the man behind Scary Stories to Tell in the Dark) had a go, but none of these versions made it. Finally, someone looked at the content of the books and presumably went, “Hey, this feels kind of like a more fucked up Hunger Games… why don’t we just get the Hunger Games guy?” and so Francis Lawrence was gifted the chance to make The Long Walk… and made one of the best films of 2025.

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leebutler Horror, Review

The Monkey (2025) – Monkeying Around

Released: 21st February
Seen: 29th May

It is a truth universally accepted by anyone who is cool that Stephen King is the greatest horror author of the last 50 years. His stories are modern classics, transforming the way horror books are viewed in the literary world and serving as the foundation for some of the greatest films of the last several decades. He is a truly prolific author with over 65 novels and 200 short stories under his pen and by the time I’ve posted this specific review he will have undoubtedly added to that (To repeat George R.R. Martin’s question to Stephen King “How the fuck do you write so many books so fast?”). He’s also infamous for taking basic everyday things and making them terrifying. This is such a well-known thing that it served as the foundation for a pretty great cutaway gag from an early episode of Family Guy, where Stephen King tried to sell his publisher on the idea of a book about a cursed lamp. It’s a Stephen King classic, take a basic thing we’ve all seen and twist it into something terrifying. For his 1980 short story The Monkey, he did this by taking a wind-up monkey toy that would clash a pair of cymbals and made it into a mysterious force of evil that led to elaborate, brutal deaths. Now, in 2025, the director Osgood Perkins took that idea and ran with it to bring us The Monkey, a high-energy horror comedy that is one of the most exciting films of the year.

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Firestarter (2022) – Fizzles

Released: 12th May
Seen: 17th May

In 1980, Stephen King released his eighth book, Firestarter, which did what most King books tend to do and became a major hit. As is also inevitable with all King books, it was adapted into a film back in 1984… this would be an adaptation that Stephen King hates, only unlike his hatred for The Shining he wouldn’t be alone in his dislike of 1984’s Firestarter.

That film was fairly universally panned by both critics and audiences and remains one of the lesser adaptations of Kings work, which means it’s one of the few works of his that probably warrants a second attempt at adapting since they clearly didn’t get it right the first time… so, see you all in about 40 years when they try again because they didn’t get it right this time either.

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Doctor Sleep (2019) – Shine On You Crazy Diamond

Released: 7th November
Seen: 3rd November (Advance Screening)

In 1977, Stephen King released his third novel. The Shining told the tale of Jack Torrence, an alcoholic in recovery who takes a job as the caretaker of the Overlook Hotel. While he’s taking care of that hotel a bunch of ghosts basically push Jack off the wagon of sobriety and send him insane, leading to him trying to kill his wife and child. That child, Danny, has a special telepathic power that gives the book its title. The book went on to be a massive success, effectively confirming that Stephen King was the king of the horror novel and was such a huge hit that it wasn’t long before it was adapted into a film that is widely considered one of the best horror films of all time.

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In the Tall Grass (2019) – Hey You Kids, Get Out Of My Lawn!

Released: 4th October
Seen: 5th October

Stephen King is a master of taking things that aren’t normally scary and making them terrifying. Puppies, classic cars, a cell phone, he’s taken them and twisted them into the stuff of nightmares. In 2012, Stephen collaborated with his son Joe Hill for a short story called In the Tall Grass, because now Stephen wants us to be scared of lawns. One of these days he’s going to make a film about a killer lamp and then someone will make a movie about it and I’ll end up enjoying that almost as much as I enjoyed this film.

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It: Chapter Two (2019) – Clowning Around

Released: 5th September
Seen: 4th September (Advance Screening)

In 2017, the film It came out in cinemas to wide praise. It was shocking, horrifying, a terrific adaptation of one of Stephen King’s most beloved novels. It was proof that this story could be done better than it had been with the 90s miniseries and it was one of the most terrifying films in recent memory. I loved that film so much that I put it at number five on my best-of list for 2017 and I sometimes wonder if maybe it should’ve been higher because it was just that great. The first film did one thing perfectly, it simply told the story of the main characters from when they were children and left the adult stuff for the sequel. It allowed the film to feel complete and gave it a fantastic tone, making it a story of childhood fears and the pain of adolescence. This movie had the impossible task of not only matching that terrifying tone but elevating it while also introducing the adult versions of the main cast. It had to carry on the story of the Losers’ Club and show us just how much more terrifying Pennywise the clown could be with the child safety taken off him… there’s a reason this sounds like an impossible task and it’s not one that this film managed to completely achieve, though it did do some pretty great things.

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Pet Sematary (2019) – Sometimes Dead Isn’t Better

Released: 4th April
Seen: 3rd April (Advanced Screening)

Pet Sematary Info.png

Picture it. Hollywood, 1989. The film Pet Sematary, based on the 1983 Stephen King novel of the same name, was released to cinemas to some serious aplomb. Getting really great critical reviews and slamming the box office, it’s currently the 5th highest earning Stephen King adaptation before you account for inflation (after inflation it gets to 6th). It’s a genuine masterpiece of horror that leans more on the concepts than actual scares and lets the situation itself be where the horror comes from. With genuinely great performances by most of the cast (let’s just pretend the lead actor isn’t in this discussion), it’s a film that you absolutely need to see because it’s a genuine heart stopper… and because knowing about what happens in the original actually makes this movie have a much more powerful effect on you as an audience member.

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